Saw V

Released: 24/10/2008

Firstly, I didn’t go see this movie expecting a great piece film, I expected a gory horror movie, and that’s what I got. But for me the best bit in Saw movies is the big reveal at the end, and I was looking forward to seeing how this one ended, but it was just predictable. If and when you see it you’ll understand what I mean. I think what happened is that they made the last one too complicated so this time they tried to dim in down a bit, but they just made it too obvious. I was going to write here about why you shouldn’t let a production designer direct a movie, but now I think about it, the directing was actually quite good, it was just the lack of depth that brought this one down.

One thing I think the director could have continued on from the last one which he didn’t was the way they cut between scenes in Saw IV, with the quick swing of the camera and it moved from one scene to another, but after watching the special features and hearing all the crew complain about how complicated they were, it’s not really surprising that they didn’t keep it up.

So only one Saw left, and not much left to explain really. Tobin Bell did say that in this one you would get to see the origins of the jigsaw piece, but that didn’t happen so I suppose that’s going to happen in the next one. Apart from that, there’s only a couple of new things brought up by this one that need explaining or confirming, and of course some kind of end to the Jigsaw Killers’ saga. Here’s hoping it’s got more depth to it than this one, and that they end it in one Hell of a blood bath!

Plot Spoilers to Follow:
As I mentioned above, the plot’s not as complicated as in the previous Saws, but there’s still enough of a story to hold it together. The traps this time round were quite good, especially when Julie Benz’s character works out that all the traps would have been survivable had the group worked together, although putting more one person in each tunnel was blindingly obvious to me when I watched it.

Of course the biggest let down of the plot was the big ‘surprise’ at the end. For anyone who watches as many movies and TV programmes as I do, the fact that the trap was a dummie was obvious as soon as Hoffman walked in the room so calm. That said, the crushing of Straum was not how I expected him to go, and as gruesome as I his arm crumpling was, they could have made that seen a lot more gory. Anyone else wish you’d seen the head get crushed? Or is that just me...

Overall: 3.5/5
Best Bit: How a certain character looked after completing a trap involving a buzz saw.
Worst Bit: The predictability of the ending.